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Parent-child conflicts and pubertal development in Croatian adolescents

Parent-child conflicts and pubertal development in Croatian adolescents. Gordana Keresteš Irma Brković Gordana Kuterovac Jagodić Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia. Transition to adolescence – increase in parent-child conflict.

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Parent-child conflicts and pubertal development in Croatian adolescents

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  1. Parent-child conflicts and pubertal development in Croatian adolescents Gordana Keresteš Irma Brković Gordana Kuterovac Jagodić Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia

  2. Transition to adolescence – increase in parent-child conflict • One reason – pubertal maturation: • impact of hormonal changes on child’s behavior • impact of visible body changes • on child’s self-perception and behavior • on parental perception of the child and behavior toward the child

  3. Different measures of pubertal maturation in studies of conflict: • Chronological age • School grade • Single sign of puberty (e.g. menarche) • Pubertal development status (combination of different signs of maturation) • Pubertal timing (relative to referential group according to age and gender): early, on-time, late • Conflicting findings

  4. Present study • Differential relations of 3 indicators of pubertal maturation with parent-child conflict: • Chronological age (CA) • Pubertal status (PS) • Pubertal timing (PT)

  5. Previous studies on parent-child conflict • General conflict level • Conflict with mothers • Present study: • General conflict level + 9 specific conflict topics • Conflict with mothers + Conflict with fathers

  6. Research questions • Is pubertal maturation associated with frequency of conflict, & is the degree of association different for different indicators of maturation? • Which are the most & least frequent conflict topics among parents and young adolescents in Croatia? • Are there differences in conflict level and topics by child’s and parent’s gender? • Who report about more conflict – children or parents?

  7. Participants • 219 two-parent families (217 both biological parents) • Children • grades 4-8, mean age 12:8 ys, range 9:4-15 ys • 53.4% girls • 54.3% firstborns or only children (i.e. first child in adolescence) • Mothers • Mean age 39.7 ys, range 29-53 ys • Education: 20.2% university, 70.2% high-school, 9.6% elementary level • 74.4% employed • Fathers • Mean age 42.2 ys, range 34-63 ys • Education. 18.5% university, 73.7% high-school, 7.8% elementary level • 83.8% employed • Sample biased toward higher SES

  8. Measures - Conflicts • Parent-Child Conflict Scale, designed after Deković et al. (1999) • Frequency of 40 conflict issues rated on a 4-point scale (1 = never to 4 = very often) • Results (1-4): • Overall conflict frequency (40 items) • Conflict frequency in 9 domains: Home Chores, School, Inappropriate Behavior, Appearance, Leisure Time, Peers & Going Out, Financies, Health, Philosophy of Life • Cronbach alpha whole scale: .93 (parents) -.94 (children) • Cronbach alpha 9 conflict domains: • .67-.79 Child Reports – Conflict with Mother • .66-.81 Child Reports – Conflict with Father • .65-.82 Mother Reports – Conflict with Child • .69-.84 Father Reports – Conflict with Child

  9. Measures – Pubertal maturation • CA • PS – PDS (Petersen et al., 1998) • PT: Early, On-time, Late maturation • Relative PT according to PDS (PT-PDS): • 25-50-25% of PDS-distribution within children of same class & gender • Perceived PT – directly assessed by: • Child (PPT-C) • Mother (PPT-M) • Father (PPT-F)

  10. PDS (Petersen et al., 1998) • 5 indicators of pubertal maturation: • boys & girls: growth spurt in height, body hair (pubic & axillary), skin changes • girls only: breast development & menarche • boys only: voice changes & facial hair • each indicator except menarchy: 4 levels (1 = not yet begun to 4 = completed) • menarche: No (=1) / Yes (=4) • Total score: Mean 5 items (1-4) • Cronbach alpha: .79 girls, .72 boys

  11. Procedure • Children filled-out questionnaires in school (conflict with mother and father assessed separately) • Parents filled-out questionnaires at home (mothers and fathers independently)

  12. Results Is pubertal maturation associated with frequency of conflict, & is the degree of association different for different indicators of maturation?

  13. Correlations between pubertal development indicators and total conflict level (Boys+Girls)

  14. Correlations between pubertal development indicators and total conflict level (Girls)

  15. Girls’ self-perceived pubertal timing and parental perception of conflict

  16. Correlations between pubertal development indicators and total conflict level (Boys)

  17. Intercorrelations – pubertal development measures (Boys+Girls)

  18. Intercorrelations – pubertal development measures (Boys)

  19. Intercorrelations – pubertal development measures (Girls)

  20. CA PDS PT PDS CA PT Which pubertal maturation measure is the most important conflict predictor?- SERIES OF 2 HRA -(Criteria: ChRp-C with M, ChRp-C with F, MRp-C with Ch, FRp-C with Ch)

  21. HRA – Main Results • Pubertal maturation explained ≤ 14% of conflict variance – more among girls than among boys • Among girls all conflict measures significantly explained by puberty indicators except FRp-C with Ch • Among boys significant Rs for MRp-C with Ch & FRp-C with Ch • Total sample – significant Rs for all measures except MRp-C with Ch • CA the most important conflict predictor for: • ChRp-C with F among girls • MRp-C with Ch & FRp-C with Ch among boys • ChRp-C with F & FRp-C with Ch in total sample • PDS the most important conflict predictor only for: • ChRp-C with M among girls • Only PPT-Ch significant conflict predictor • PPT-Ch (the most important) predictor only for MRp-C with Ch among girls (FIGURE)

  22. Which are the most & least frequent conflict topics among parents and young adolescents in Croatia?

  23. Conflict level across nine domains

  24. Are there differences in conflict level and topics by child’s and parent’s gender? Who perceive higher conflict level – children or parents?

  25. Total conflict level in four parent-child dyads according to child and parent report

  26. Conclusions • Croatian children’s transition to adolescence not very “stormy & stressful” when conflict with parents considered: • Perceived conflict frequency relatively rare, especially according to child’s perception and with fathers • Most frequent conflict topic: Chores • Conflict frequency increases with pubertal maturation, but associations relatively weak, especially among boys • CA the most important pubertal predictor of conflict

  27. Limitations • Cross-sectional design (longitudinal studies suggest larger changes in parent-child relationship during transition to adolescence) • Not representative sample • No objective measures of puberty &/or conflict

  28. Future plans • Other predictors of parent-child conflicts (in addition to pubertal development & parent’s and child’s gender) • Consequences of parent-child conflict: What difference does it make for parents and children to dispute more or less frequently with each other?

  29. Thank you for your attention

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